The present invention relates generally to food plates, and more specifically to a disposable plate with a tab feature that provides the options of being grasped in a flat state for improved stabilizing of the filled plate and of being articulated to grasp the food on the plate without the user directly touching the food.
A conventional disposable food plate meant for an individual to eat from is typically composed of a generally flat surface bordered by a raised rim. This surface can be slightly dished, and while generally round in shape, can additionally be oval, square, hexagonal, octagonal, or of any other shape or combination of shapes. Typically, disposable plates are between 6″ and 12″ in diameter. The rim serves the function of acting as a perimeter means for retaining the food on the plate, thus keeping the food from sliding off the edges of the plate if the plate is slightly tilted or if the plate or the food contents are acted upon by external forces. The rim is also the primary feature to grasp on the conventional plate. Additionally, the rim serves as a wall against which pieces of food may be captured with utensils such as a fork or a spoon.
Conventional disposable food plates are generally manufactured from thin, flexible materials such as of paper, coated paper, thermoformed plastic sheet, molded plastic or plastic foam, cardboard, corrugated cardboard and combinations of any of these. Both the materials and the manufacturing techniques are well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, and are also relatively inexpensive. The rim on the disposable plate is designed to stiffen the entire plate so as to preclude the plate bending in an uncontrolled manner when the plate is loaded with food. U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,020 filed Aug. 31, 1993 entitled RIGID PAPERBOARD CONTAINER, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,640 filed Sep. 6, 1991 entitled RIGID FOUR RADII RIM PAPER PLATE show typical examples of accomplishing rim forming and stiffening with paper or coated paper materials. These rim forming and stiffening manufacturing processes do not apply to the other above-listed materials, which are also inherently stiffer materials than the paper or coated paper. Even so, all conventional disposable plates are somewhat flexible, and this can cause handling problems.
A frequent problem associated with conventional disposable plates is unsanitary and messy handling of food. Because of the flexibility of disposable plates, the user may need to stabilize a filled plate by grasping the plate both from below and from above, with some number of fingers directly contacting the food. As disposable plates are often used in the fast food and food vending businesses, the health and safety of the customer frequently depends on the hygiene of the server especially when the food is directly handled by the server. Further, the recipient of the food-filled paper plate may not want to have their own fingers make direct contact with the food, either for reasons of sanitation or for reasons of personal neatness. At some food establishments the vendors wear gloves to prevent sanitary risks or the appearance of such, and may even hand out napkins for grasping the food. The customer has no way of knowing what the vendor has touched with the gloves, and is faced with disposal of a soiled napkin before consuming the food.
Frequently, disposable plates are used at parties, buffets, picnics or other situations where people will stand and move around while holding a plate of food. The standard use of a knife and fork to cut up food is made more difficult under these circumstances. In many cases, the food would be easy to cut up with the edge of a fork if the food could be held while cutting, but the other hand is committed to holding the plate, and just stabilizing the plate and the food is enough of a challenge. All of the problems mentioned so far are magnified if the food is too hot to safely or comfortably touch.
There are several known previously attempted solutions to the problem of food handling by adapting a container to allow the user to grasp a food item without directly touching it. Each of these previous inventions has certain disadvantages. These previous inventions all have a specialized shape that prevents function as a conventional and general-purpose food plate. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,299,918 filed Dec. 27, 1999 entitled PIZZA SERVER and U.S. Pat. No. 5,381,905 filed May 4, 1993 entitled DISPOSABLE SUPPORT FOR PIZZA both address the problem of serving and manipulating an individual slice or single serving of pizza without directly touching the pizza slice or single serving, but both inventions are specific to the pizza slice or single serving shape and type of food. U.S. Pat. No. 4,890,549 filed Aug. 24, 1988 entitled FOOD HOLDING DEVICE is a molded plastic tool for grasping and supporting a slice of pizza, and has neither a continuous bottom surface nor any raised rim, and thus is unable to function as even as much of a food plate as the previously cited patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,505 filed Apr. 8, 1996 entitled DISPOSABLE SERVING TRAY additionally requires folding and assembly either by the end user or by the vendor using the tray, and the tray is specific in shape to holding and serving an ear of corn.
German Patent No. 811,994 filed Jul. 8, 1949 (No English Title) has a grasping structure but lacks a continuous raised rim for retaining any food contents, and is only able to hold a single sausage-like food item.
German Patent No. DE20114007U1 filed Aug. 24, 2001 (No English Title) shows a food supporting and grasping invention with some more general functionality than the inventions described above, but this invention has a complete lack of any raised rim, continuous or interrupted, for retaining the food. This invention was designed to function as a serving device for flat foods like pizza, and has little more capability than that.
The challenge of stabilizing a food-filled disposable plate has been addressed by many inventors. U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,240 filed Feb. 13, 1996 entitled DISPOSABLE PLATE WITH FLEXIBLE HANDLES shows a plate stabilizing solution that requires the user to insert fingers into formed loops in order to work. Some may find this finger insertion uncomfortable or inconvenient, and the loop structure also represents extra manufacturing steps. U.S. Pat. No. 4,746,057 filed Mar. 25, 1986 entitled FINGER-STABILIZED EATING PLATE shows a finger-stabilized eating plate. This invention also requires extra components to be attached to the plate, thus increasing unit cost. The same problem with extra components is present in U.S. Pat. No. 2,647,678 filed May 5, 1950 entitled HOLDER FOR PAPER PLATES AND THE LIKE which additionally requires the user to be sitting for the invention to provide any benefit. U.S. Pat. No. 2,669,379 filed Aug. 3, 1950 entitled PLATE PROVIDED WITH DEPENDING GRIPPING MEANS is formed from one piece, but the method of stabilizing still requires the user to be sitting. U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,297 filed Feb. 14, 1990 entitled FOOD AND BEVERAGE SNACK TRAY shows an invention that is a tray rather than a plate, but the tray can be held while standing, and has more of a tab structure for hand stabilizing the tray. However, this snack tray suffers from the problem of an interrupted perimeter, and has no features that will aid in gripping the food. Additionally, forming this out of the sort of paper stock often used for disposable food plates would be difficult. U.S. Pat. No. 6,129,235 filed Dec. 14, 1998 entitled PARTY TRAY is representative of a large group of specialized plate inventions, having multiple specialized compartments and a holding and stabilizing feature. However, the sheer number of compartments renders this type of specialized plate far less usable for more general food applications.
Another problem with plates of both the conventional reusable as well as the disposable variety is that there is generally not a vertical enough rim to assist in gathering food efficiently onto a fork or spoon. U.S. Pat. No. 3,422,986 filed Mar. 20, 1967 entitled DISH LIP PLATE ATTACHMENT is typical of a group of inventions intended to solve this food gathering problem. This invention attaches to the plate to provide a higher and more vertical rim. However, inventions of this type are separate elements, and are not suitable for use with disposable plates.
A further problem with disposable plates is their lightweight nature, and susceptibility to even minor amounts of wind when used outdoors and empty or lightly filled. There is a need for a way to weigh down the empty plate with commonly associated and relatively heavy objects such as metal utensils, beverage cups, bottles or cans, without compromising the food-containing capability of the plate.
Securing napkins against wind is another problem associated with outdoor eating, using either conventional reusable or disposable plates. U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,077 filed May 14, 1996 entitled FOOD BEVERAGE AND ACCESSORIES PLATE offers a solution to this problem as part of the invention, incorporating a slot for napkin holding, among numerous specialized item holding features. One problem with this invention is the considerable food-holding area sacrificed to specialized features, causing the invention to be unable to function as a general-purpose plate.
Few of the inventions listed here are able to function as a conventional disposable food plate. All of these inventions have either at least one feature that would be a significant disadvantage for someone who wished to simply use a disposable food plate, or a manufacturer who wished to provide a more capable food plate without incurring additional manufacturing or assembly steps and thus additional costs. There is a need for a disposable food plate that can address all of these problems without sacrificing the low cost and general utility of the traditional design.
A significant improvement over the existing art would be a disposable food plate that cost no more to manufacture than conventional disposable food plates, had means for retaining food at least equal in capability to the conventional design, had no functional disadvantages or limitations compared to the conventional design, that provided improved plate handling and stabilizing features, and most importantly, provided a convenient, safe and sanitary way to handle and stabilize food on the plate.